1 Corinthians 9:24-27 – “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
As I was reading Mortification of Sin by John Owen last night, I ran into the above referenced verse. Right now in my life, I believe that this is the biggest thing that God is working on. As I look towards becoming an elder, the qualifcation of being self-controlled is the one which I least fulfill, especially in regards to lust and slothfulness, and even also evidenced sometimes in my eating habits. Thankfully, God has given me a hope and an optimism that he will continue to work in me a change of heart that will lead to a life that is much more in line which what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9. On the one hand, that verse exposes my deficient character, while yet on the other hand, it gives me great hope, that if God can turn a regular sinner like Paul into one who is on the balance self-controlled and disciplined with the laser-focused purpose of living for Christ, then he can also do the same with me. I pray that God would enable me to submit more and more of myself consistently to the will of God, so that I might glorify God in all that I do and that I might have as Owen writes “The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life” as I lean on God to put to death the works of the flesh.